John Pring's Disability News Service - Week Ending May 18th 2012

5/27/2012 01:26:00 pm
BenefitScroungingScum
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A landmark legal case could help thousands of
disabled adults who are not receiving the care and support they need from
their local authority.

A senior Labour shadow minister has launched a
stinging attack on the government’s record on disability rights, and
announced plans to work with disabled people to develop new policies that
will “turn rights into reality”.

The government has caused alarm among campaigners
by extending its assault on the laws that protect disabled people and
other minority groups from discrimination.

Cuts to the funding and responsibilities of the
equality watchdog could mean that its specialist disability committee is
under threat, its disabled commissioner has warned.

A landmark court ruling is set to help disabled
campaigners fight discrimination within the benefits system.

Disabled campaigners are likely to launch legal
action against the government over its anti-inclusion education policy.

The government is to push ahead with plans to
make it harder for disabled children to attend mainstream schools,
detailed plans published this week have revealed.

Disabled people are still facing a “bleak
picture” in their struggle to secure the support they need in the
workplace, according to a new report from the equality watchdog.

Some wheelchair-accessible vehicles (WAVs) are
potentially unsafe for passengers or drivers travelling in their
wheelchairs, and should never have been allowed on the roads, claim
campaigners.

Significant parts of the disability movement have
backed disabled Remploy workers who are set to lose their jobs because of
government plans to shut their sheltered factories.

GPs across Britain look set to call on the
government to abandon its much-criticised “fitness for work” tests, giving
a huge boost to disabled activists who have fought for them to be
scrapped.

The Treasury may have failed in its legal duty to
consider how some of the cuts announced in its 2010 spending review would
impact on disabled people, the equality watchdog has concluded.

A cheerleader, an athlete and an artist are among
the first disabled people chosen to take part in this summer’s Paralympic
torch relay.